Consensus Is the Best Medicine

After more than two years in office, George Bush has emerged as a “consensus President” on domestic issues. Rather than pushing major new proposals on health care, for example, Bush says he prefers to wait for a consensus on the best course of action. “An effective government must know its limitations,” he said recently.

The President will soon have another opportunity to put his consensus policy into practice. The full Senate is expected to consider legislation today that would overturn the imminent ban on abortion counseling at federally funded family planning clinics.

Passage of this bill is not in doubt; the only question is whether the majority will be large enough to override a threatened veto. The House has already passed similar legislation by a veto-proof majority. A joint version of one of these bills could reach Bush late this summer.

The “gag order,” which starting in early fall would forbid clinics serving millions of poor women annually to even discuss the abortion option, was part of regulations first issued in 1988. These regulations prohibit all mention of abortion, even when pregnant patients specifically request information or referrals.

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld enforcement of this ban and, in effect, sanctioned a different standard of medical practice for poor women on the one hand and for those who can afford a private physician on the other.

The court’s decision so galvanized Congress that legislation to overturn the ban is moving swiftly through both houses. The decision also galvanized the public. Nearly two-thirds of Americans polled oppose the gag rule. Opposition also comes from such Establishment groups as the American Medical Assn.

Sen. John H. Chafee (R-R.I.), sponsor of the Senate bill, sat down with the President last month to urge him to reconsider his insistence on imposing the counseling ban. In recent weeks, the Administration indicated that Bush may take another look at his position.

A broad popular and congressional consensus opposes implementation of the counseling ban. If President Bush really believes that an effective government is one that operates within consensus limits, the public and Congress have clearly defined those limits.